Teacher Development - March 2008

2008 Workshops on Teaching Mark Twain

The Mark Twain Museum in Hannibal is entering its third season of offering week-long institutes for teachers from around the nation. The institutes began in 2006 with eight participants from three states. In 2007 the institute grew to two "sections" with fifty-two participants from six other states.

The Missouri Humanities Council has funded the 2008 expansion to three "sections." Teachers will study The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with leading Twain scholars, in the settings Twain described. The lesson plans they develop will be posted on the museum's web site, which has had over 18,000 downloads of previous teacher-related materials. The workshops will take place in the weeks of June 16 - 20, July 14 - 18, and July 28 - August 1.

The workshops are open to any teachers from grade 3 through high school. Workshop scholars include Dr. Cindy Lovel, a Twain scholar specializing in Curriculum and Instruction at Quincy University; Dr. Tom Quirk, a Twain scholar at the University of Missouri; Kim Ahrens, an experienced teacher of Twain at Hannibal High School; Regina Faden, Executive Director of the Mark Twain Museum; and Henry Sweets, Curator of the Mark Twain Museum.

Laptop computers will be available for participants to use during their workshop so that projects and lesson plans can be substantially completed during the week. Participants can register to receive 4 Graduate Credits through Quincy University or 40 in-service credits. Those costs are borne by participants. Download full details from our web site.

2008 Workshops on The Kansas-Missouri Border War

The National Frontier Trails Center in Independence is continuing an annual tradition of outstanding teachers' institutes created in partnership with the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site in Fairway, Kansas. The institute from July 21 - 25 treats the topic, "Blazing Border: Missouri and Kansas, 1850-1875." It is designed to give participants insight into the hostilities before, during and after the Civil War and how these experiences shaped the unique identity of the region. The seminar will include lectures by noted historians, two day-long field trips to explore significant sites, numerous first-person interpretations, workshops, and hands-on experiences. Extensive use will be made of the personnel and primary source materials in the collections of the Jackson County Historical Society, Mattes Research Library, National Archives, and the Kansas State Historical Society.

Participants will have the option of taking the course for graduate credit or in-service hours within their districts. Teachers will be able to use their new understanding of this era and translate their experiences into cross-curricular lessons and classroom activities. Contact Richard Edwards for more information.

2008 Fall Conference: "Changing Political Power: Democracies, Monarchies, Dynasties"

The Missouri Council for History Education and the Kansas Council for History Education are sponsoring a joint conference September 26-27 at the Courtyard by Marriott - Adams Pointe Convention Center in Blue Springs (KC metro area). (Read an account of the 2007 conference by 2007-2008 Missouri Teacher of the Year, Eric Langhorst.)

The program features two outstanding speakers. Sim Wineburg, Professor of Education and Professor of History at Standord University, is the author of Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. His extended session, "Reading Like A Historian," will appeal to teachers who struggle with improving student reading of history and other non-fiction material. H.W. Brands has written twenty books, including The First American, a biography of Benjamin Franklin that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in biography.

Twenty break-out sessions will be selected from proposals submitted by history educators from Kansas and Missouri. A reception will be held for conference participants at the Truman Library and Museum with a special presentation on President Harry Truman.

The full conference program will be available on the Kansas web site by August first or by contacting Missouri Council President, Joan Musbach. (As part of the grant for this conference, the Missouri Council for History Education will launch its own web site.)